Boring Yellow Onesies
by hedgehoginatutu
Summary: Peeta and Katniss try to prepare their daughter for the arrival of their second child.


**Summary:** Peeta and Katniss try to prepare their daughter for the arrival of their second child.

**Notes:** Written from Prompts in Panem's challenge 'Peeta's Paint Box' day three – yellow.

**Word Count:** 1,724

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"The baby's moving!" Willow squeals and pressed her little hands into her my almost flat stomach.

"Really?" I sigh sleepily not bothering to open my eyes. I can tell that it's late but the bed is so warm and my whole body feels fatigued.

"Yup. I think she's hungry Mama." I can feel Willow climbing up my body and she plants her podgey hands on either side of my face and I have to force my eyes open. "She's moving around a lot in there. She might be ready to come out now."

I chuckle and lift her head to close the gap between us and plant a little kiss on her nose. I was about three months pregnant and so far had not felt a single movement from our second child. Haymitch had forced Peeta and I to tell Willow we were expecting a sibling for her after she had gone to him to ask if I was dying. I had hundreds of reasons for never wanting to be pregnant before I actually fell pregnant with Willow, but never once had I considered adding the physical toll it would take on my body to the list of reasons not to have children.

The first trimester alone was like some kind of hell. There were days I had barely made it out of bed for a couple of hours when I was pregnant with Willow. This time around I didn't have the same luxury and constantly had to reassure Willow that my morning sickness was a normal part of growing a baby.

Since we told Willow we were expecting a new baby she had insisted on becoming my 'nurse' and poking at my stomach at intermittent intervals in the day to check the baby was still there or to see if it was hungry or even if it needed its diaper changed.

She was also resolutely convinced that she was getting a baby sister.

Peeta and I had tried to gently correct her to begin with but we gave up hoping that the fifty-fifty odds would be in her favor.

"I don't think she's quite ready to come out just yet," Peeta smiled opening the door with his elbow and coming into the room with a tray filled with cheese buns, pancakes, and hot tea.

Willow pouted but quickly forgot her disappointment when Peeta set the tray down on the bed and she scampered over me towards the maple syrup drowned pancakes.

Peeta poured me a cup of tea and offered me the plate of cheese buns. I took one and settled against the headboard. Willow dug into the stack of pancakes and began to chew furiously.

When her initial ravenous hunger seemed to have subsided and she began to take slower more thoughtful mouthfuls she suddenly asked: "So when will I get my baby sister? I want someone to play with."

"Well first the baby has to stay inside Mama for six more months, so it will be summer before you get your little sister _or brother_." Peeta emphasized the possibility of a baby brother. "And for the first few weeks, or maybe months the baby will be very, very tiny and just want to eat and sleep a lot, but maybe by this time next year you will be able to start playing with the baby."

Willow looked at Peeta with an incredulous expression on her face and Peeta and I both chuckled. "It can't take her _that_ long!" She exclaimed. "She's right there!" Willow pointed at my stomach. "I felt her this morning, didn't I Mama?"

"Yes, the baby's in here, but it has to do a lot of growing before it can come out and join us."

Willow scowled and I saw Peeta smile as his eyes flickered between Willow and me. I was completely aware of how much my daughter seemed like a smaller version of myself. Without a doubt her eyes were Peeta's, but her hair, her olive toned skin, her little mannerisms, they were all mine. Peeta had even told me at her first birthday how much he loved seeing a smaller version of my scowl. I had of course scowled at him for that comment. I just hoped that this next baby would have some more of Peeta in it.

"I want my baby sister now!" Willow was pouting now and threatening to start crying crocodile tears.

"Willow," Peeta used a warning tone with her that only deepened her scowl and she let out a frustrated sound.

"Come here," I said and pulled her into my arms so her back leant against my chest. I held her tightly and hoped that we might keep the tantrum at bay. I was too tired to even think about listening to her toddler screams.

"It's a good thing we've got so much time to spend together before the baby gets here," Peeta began once Willow had apparently settled. "Once the baby gets here things will be a lot busier around here with all the diaper changing, feeding, and napping. Before the baby gets here we need to spend lots of time together." Peeta playfully flicked her nose with his finger and she smiled up at him a little. "And you can help us get ready for the baby arriving. That part is the most fun. We get to paint the room and decide what furniture the baby ne-"

"I want to paint the room pink!"

"Sweetie, remember it might be a brother," I chastise gently.

"No, it won't be. It's a sister."

Peeta and I share a look over her head.

"And how do you know that? Not even Mama knows yet."

"Because I'm just like Mama and she had a baby sister, didn't you Mama?" Willow turns suddenly to look up at me earnestly. Peeta looks at me apprehensively. I give my head a small shake.

"Yes, I suppose she was a baby once."

"Well I want my baby sister to be just like Auntie Prim. She's going to have eyes like me, and hair like Daddy, and Mama can teach me how to tie her hair in two braids. She's going to be the best sister ever, just like Auntie Prim was, right Mama?"

"Right," I murmur. I can feel the tears in my eyes as I hear my daughter talking about Prim and the very real fear that maybe this baby growing inside me will be just like Prim. It wouldn't be a bad thing of course, it would be a wonderful thing, but painful at the same time.

Peeta has shifted closer to us and he has his arms around me and my head is in the crook of his shoulder.

Towards the end of the second trimester Peeta finally finishes painting the room across the hallway from ours. Willow is in the room right next door to us and we didn't want the baby to be too far away so we finally broke into the room that nobody had touched since the Quarter Quell. Peeta boxed up all of her things and put them under our bed for me to go through when I was feeling stronger. The room had been a soft shade of blue, but now Peeta had painted it yellow. The very top of the walls was a light – almost white – shade and it flowed downwards into darker shades until the very bottom of the walls where the paint was the exact shade of a late dandelion.

"I still think pink would have been better," Willow sighs as she inspects the room.

"But what if it is a baby brother?" Peeta challenges.

Willow pouts. "If it is a baby brother, can Mama try to get a baby sister for me afterwards?"

I look up at Peeta from where I sit sorting through Willow's old baby clothes with a look of horror on my face and I see Peeta's face crack with a smile.

"Let's just get one baby here safely before we think about anymore."

"I just really want a sister," Willow sounds so wistful it's as if she's asking for the impossible.

"Brothers are great too you know," Peeta says as he cracks the lid back onto the tins of paint that he picked up from the general store.

"Yeah?" Willow does not sound at all convinced.

"Sure," Peeta continues. "I had two and they were great fun. We used to bake together everyday, and you like baking. They taught me how to make the cookies that you love so much. We used to play together in the snow and-" Willow cuts him off with an impatient sigh.

"I can do all of those things without a brother. I could do them with a sister."

"I think what Daddy's trying to say is that brothers can do all the same things as sisters. You will have just as much fun with a brother as with a sister."

"Yeah?" She asks making her way across the room towards me.

"Yeah," I answer with a smile, pleased that she finally seems to have made some sort of acceptance of the possibility that she might have a brother. Peeta gives me a smile over her head and I nod back, quite pleased with myself.

We continue to work on the room together. Well, Peeta and I do, Willow is really more of a hindrance, but a loveable one.

When we decide it is time to start on dinner Peeta helps me to my feet and I instruct him which boxes to take back into storage.

"But Mama, there are still clothes in those boxes," Willow points out. "You only put the boring clothes in the drawers."

"Well you see, we kept all the gender neutral clothing, and we'll get out the girly stuff again if the baby is a girl, but if not we might need to get some boys' clothes."

"But I thought that brothers could do all the same things as sisters," Willow frowned. "I think even a brother would rather some of my old dresses than those boring yellow onesies."

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**Notes:** Thank you for reading, I hate to beg, but a review would really mean a lot. I haven't written much for The Hunger Games fandom so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!


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